Center for the literary arts in New York State
A VISIONARY ARCHITECT
H.H. Richardson: Drawings from the Collection of Houghton Library, Harvard University
4:30 p.m. Monday, November 17, 2025
New York State Court of Appeals
20 Eagle Street, Albany NY 12207 See map
Registration required – space is limited. RSVP to events@nycourts.gov
Watch the full presentation here.
Join us for a moderated discussion about Henry Hobson Richardson, a visionary 19th-century architect who helped create and shape Albany’s architectural landscape.
The presentation will take place in the Courtroom of the Court of Appeals — designed by Richardson in 1881. With its elaborate hand-carved oak paneling, furniture, and marble and Mexican onyx fireplace, the Courtroom is considered one of the finest 19th-century governmental chambers and was moved in pieces from its original location in the Capitol building.
A reception will follow the event in Albany’s City Hall, [24 Eagle St, Albany, NY 12207] another magnificent example of Richardson’s trademark “Romanesque Revival” work, built in 1883.
Featuring more than 4,000 drawings, the Henry Hobson Richardson book presents unpublished sketches, renderings, and plans of more than 50 projects.
Jay Wickersham is an architect, lawyer, architectural historian and former professor in practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Chris Milford is a partner in the architectural firm of Milford & Ford Associates, specializing in historic preservation and restoration.
Hope Mayo is the former Philip Hofer Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts at Harvard’s Houghton Library.
from the publisher
The first in-depth publication of drawings that reveal the creative genius of H. H. Richardson, the greatest American architect of the nineteenth century
The trove of drawings, preserved since Richardson’s death, have been largely unpublished, until now. This new book encompasses masterpieces such as Trinity Church in Boston, MA — voted the “most beautiful building in America” in 1885 — the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail in Pittsburgh, PA; the Ames Gate Lodge in Easton, MA; the Glessner House and the Marshall Field Wholesale Store in Chicago, IL; and many more.
The book makes a major contribution to Richardson scholarship through its presentation of unpublished sketches, renderings, and plans of more than 50 projects, including city and country houses, churches, libraries, railroad stations, and municipal buildings.
Its companion text includes an essay surveying the life and career of Richardson by James F. O’Gorman, the leading scholar of his work, which provides context to the drawings, together with additional essays that discuss the organization of Richardson’s studio in Brookline, MA, and his personal approach to a wide network of clients as well as an overview of the Richardson archive at Harvard.
With its curated selection of 450 drawings, meticulously reproduced to reveal the design process and hand of the architect, this book is a revelatory exploration of Richardson’s work, work that set American architecture on a new course and exerted a global influence on the birth of modernism. Read more
Presented by the New York State Court of Appeals, and co-sponsors Albany Law School, the New York State Bar Association, and the Historical Society of the New York Courts.